


Nightmare

by Lady_of_Lorule



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Baking, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Nightmares, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21556213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_Lorule/pseuds/Lady_of_Lorule
Summary: One consequence of being a teenage hero seems to be sleeplessness. Or when half the team can't sleep and run into each other in the middle of the night.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & M'gann Mo'rzz, Dick Grayson & Wally West, M'gann M'orzz & Wally West
Comments: 6
Kudos: 154





	Nightmare

“You too?” Wally asked when Dick trudged into the kitchen at three in the morning.

The boy didn’t say anything. Unlike his usual silent footsteps, his socks dragged against the stone floor of the Cave, breaking up the eerie silence that permeated the still air. Wally noted that his mask was firmly in place even now.  _ Did he sleep in that thing?  _ He wondered.

“Rob? You okay?” Wally asked when he still received no response. He grew worried as Dick dropped into an armchair, pulling his legs up to his chest and hugged them. He looked so small like that, nothing but elbows and knees jutting out and a baggy sweater over loose pajama pants with a Batman print.

“Nightmare,” he croaked out, voice hoarse.

Ah. It was one of those nights.

For as long as Wally had known Dick Grayson, his best friend had suffered from nightmares. Terrible ones, that left him thrashing in his bed and screaming himself hoarse. Which probably explained his scratchy voice. The Cave walls must be thicker than he thought if he hadn’t heard him screaming from his bedroom down the hall. Otherwise he would have run to go wake him up.

“Sorry, dude,” he said softly, moving over slowly to sit next to him on the arm of the chair. He knew better than to touch him, but he hoped his presence would be soothing, at least. “Do you want to talk about it?”

His grip on his knees tightened, knuckles turning white. “There’s nothing to talk about. It’s always the same dream.”

Wally winced. That was another thing that had stayed constant in all the years he had known his friend: Robin’s nightmares were always of his family, falling to their deaths right in front of him. Of being helpless to save them. Of watching them bleed out on the ground of the circus they had loved so much.

“Why are you up?” Robin asked after a moment, his voice breaking from abuse.

“My back was healing slow from getting tossed around earlier. I couldn’t fall asleep with it still healing, so I came out here to watch some cartoons or grab a snack until I can lay down without it hurting.”

“Sorry,” he rasped.

Wally shrugged. “It’s fine. Luckily, no school tomorrow, so I can afford to sleep in.”

They both turned as another set of footsteps echoed down the cavernous halls of the Cave. M’gann smiled sheepishly as she realized she was not alone and was intruding on a quiet moment. Wally grinned back, but Robin went back to staring at the floor through his opaque lenses after a second.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was up,” she whispered, blushing as red as her hair.

“It’s fine. Everything okay?” Wally checked.

She sighed. “Bad dream. Didn’t want to go back to sleep, so I thought I’d come bake.”

“You want to bake at three in the morning?”

“I don’t have anything else to do. Plus, it keeps my hands busy. But I can leave if I was interrupting—”

“You don’t have to go,” Robin croaked, voice quieter than usual. Wally worried that he wouldn’t be able to talk at all in the morning.

M’gann’s brow knit. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

His terse answer discouraged any further questioning. He folded even more into himself, tilting in the chair so he wasn’t facing either of them. Wally sighed and stood up, following M’gann into the kitchen area. He wordlessly began to help her gather ingredients and supplies as she shot furtive looks over at Robin, who stayed in his chair.

Wally felt the gentle brush of M’gann’s mind and then her worried voice echoed in his head.  _ Is Robin okay? I’ve never seen him like this before. _

_ He’s...upset. He’ll be okay though,  _ Wally replied, trying to stay as truthful as he could without betraying too much of his friend’s confidence.

_ I can feel the distress rolling off him. Maybe we should try to talk to him? _

_ No. He just needs a minute. Trust me. _

M’gann fell silent, though he still felt her consciousness on the edges of his own. After working together on the team for months, the feeling was no longer foreign, but comforting. They fell into a steady rhythm as M’gann mixed batter that Wally then tried to swipe, only to be batted away telekinetically. But Robin’s quiet anguish cast a pall over their easy companionship.

“Walls,” Robin called, his voice breaking on the short nickname, as M’gann slid the trays into the oven.

He was at his friend’s side in a second. “Yeah?”

He unfolded his legs and climbed to his feet. He was missing his easy feline grace that made it seem like he could fly. Instead, his limbs seemed to weigh him down, like gravity was bearing down on him, crippling his wings. Wally’s heart hurt to see his Robin stuck on the ground.

“I think I’m going to go home.”

“You sure?” He knew that meant that Robin probably wanted Bruce to comfort him, but he also didn’t usually sleep over at the Cave at all. There must be a reason why he hadn’t wanted to go home already.

“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay, Rob, of course.”

The boy nodded and headed off down the hall towards the zeta tubes. Wally watched him go as he bit his lip, torn between following him and trusting Bruce to take care of him. Eventually, he forced himself to turn and go back to M’gann. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Is everything okay?”

He nodded absently. “Yeah. Yeah, Rob’s just going home. Hopefully he’ll be able to sleep better there.” She hummed as she cleaned up the kitchen. He scrunched his brow in thought, then asked, “What’s today’s date?”

She looked over at him. “Since it’s after midnight, happy December first.”

Wally groaned. “Oh, man. Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Its Robin’s birthday.”

She started levitating when she squealed with excitement. “Really? Maybe we could throw him a party! Its short notice, but it might cheer him up. I can’t believe he didn’t tell us!”

Wally reached out and gripped her shoulders, pushing her back to earth. “Whoa, slow down. He didn’t tell us for a reason. Robin doesn’t like to celebrate his birthday. At all.”

“What? Why not?”

_ Because it means he’s getting older. And every year he gets older is one more year without his parents. And pretty soon Bruce will have been his guardian longer than his parents, and he doesn’t know how to deal with that,  _ Wally thought, but didn’t say.

“He just doesn’t think it’s anything to celebrate.”


End file.
